Facebook is refocusing itself on connecting people with content from friends and family. So Instagram is the go-to home for brands. Engagement is high, followers are brand-loyal, and you can achieve tangible business goals and attract more social media followers.
If you've never used the platform, or if you are looking to refine your existing strategy, there are tricks, settings, hacks, search options, and other features you want to know about. Here are some to get you started optimizing your Instagram account.
1. Have an Instagram strategy
An Instagram strategy is a detailed plan that outlines what a brand wants to accomplish by using the platform. The first step in creating an effective Instagram strategy is knowing, with precision, what you want to achieve for your brand. You must first understand your goals to stay on track to achieving them. Spend time setting SMART Goals for your Instagram usage and put a strategy in place to meet them. Consider the following:
- The type of content you'll post (e.g., images of people, things, nature, quotes).
- How often you will post.
- Whether you will publish Instagram Stories.
2. Create your Profile based on Instagram's best practices
To create your profile based on Instagram's best practices, follow these steps:
- Profile Photo: Use your logo so your brand is easy to identify. Ensure its dimensions are current and display correctly.
- Account Name: Your account name should be the same as your business name and consistent with any other social profiles you have. Note that there are no spaces in your username.
- Website Link: The website entry is a clickable link. Use your home page or your latest promotional page. This is the only area on an Instagram profile with a clickable link, so update it regularly with what's most relevant to your company.
3. Know with certainty your profile is complete
Ensure your Instagram profile is complete to maximize its effectiveness. Since you are a business, be sure you're setting up a business account to access relevant options and use them to your advantage:
- Business Account: Set up your profile as a business account to unlock professional features.
- Category: Select an appropriate category for your company, which will appear under your name to show visitors what you do at a glance.
- Contact Information: Include all contact details. Instagram will create corresponding contact buttons (e.g., Call, Email) on your profile.
- CTA Buttons: Add call-to-action buttons to encourage visitors to take specific actions, such as buying tickets or making a reservation.
4. Make your bio stand out
Here's where you can describe what your business does, hype your website, or place your brand's slogan. Just remember to stay in your brand's voice.
Not sure what your brand voice is or how to be consistent in using it?
You can also add emojis beneath your profile photo representing your brand. It's a chance to show some of your brand's personality. Don't use them if they're not adding value to your bio. You can use a third-party website to get unique fonts not available from Instagram. You can also add atypical characters.You can update your Instagram Bio with announcements for a sale or live event. Timely offers help keep the bio fresh. To help grow your audience, use the Explore page that sorts the entire Instagram community by topic and keyword. Hashtag your posts with some of these words, and it can expose your content to people browsing these topics. You can also use hashtags in your name and bio section to promote your profile.
5. Get line breaks into your bio and captions
Press the 123 key in the bottom left corner of your keyboard in the app, and the Return key appears in the bottom right.
6. Give your Instagram Stories a longer life
Posts to your Instagram Story are typically only visible for 24 hours. To give a story a longer life, you can use Stories Highlights. Instagram Stories Highlights is a feature that allows you to save stories together in the same space on your profile page. You can give a Highlight a custom cover photo and a name, and it will remain permanently displayed on your profile page for visitors to see.
7. Get traffic to an external website
As we mentioned above, the only place clickable URLs are allowed is in the single Website box in your bio within your Instagram profile. (Check the most recent updates to Instagram Business Accounts to see if this is still a valid statement. Things are fluid!) Use your photo captions to encourage visits to your profile to get that link. Update that URL often to highlight your newest blog post, product, or offer.
8. Construct a narrative for your brand
Through your posted images, you speak to the interests and desires of your audience. In return, they give you comments and likes. Let the pictures and their captions do the storytelling for you. When people glance at your feed, they should get a defined sense of what your brand is all about. Having that defined narrative reinforces your identity and makes it easier to compose captions and choose pictures to post.
9. Share great content
Remember, you're creating a visual aesthetic for your brand, as Instagram is all about visuals. Think about what you'll showcase. For a restaurant, it might be food; for a clothing line, it's clothes. If you offer services, you can showcase customer stories using a branded hashtag or go behind the scenes to highlight office life and introduce your staff.
Strive for a consistent look once you decide on a content theme. To achieve this:
- Maintain Consistency: Use consistent colors and filters to create a cohesive look that encourages users to keep scrolling through your feed.
- Use Natural Light: Natural light is almost always best for photography.
- Find Unique Angles: Try unique angles when shooting your pictures to make them more interesting.
- Edit Consistently: Apply similar edits to your photos to maintain your brand's visual identity.
10. Compose compelling captions
Don't neglect your captions just because Instagram is a visual platform. Captions provide the details that make the photo meaningful. Your goal is to have followers that think and laugh and feel a connection to your brand. You have to use a clear and consistent brand voice. Use your brand's grammatical guidelines. Be consistent with hashtags. Develop a set of style guidelines that can keep your captions distinct and on-brand.
11. Remember that hashtags are important
Instagram hashtags are keywords or phrases, preceded by the # symbol, that categorize content and make it easier for users to find. Captions are not searchable on Instagram, but hashtags are. When anyone clicks on or searches for a particular hashtag, all associated content appears, presenting an excellent opportunity to get your content in front of people who aren't yet following you. Find the hashtags your competition uses and incorporate them into your posts. You can also create your own branded hashtag, which embodies your brand and encourages the sharing of photos that fit your image.
12. Grow your audience
Social platforms are all about community. You should follow and engage with relevant Instagrammers. A community relevant to your brand exists; you just have to find it. You can start by engaging with people and the brands that they're already following.Monitor industry hashtags and comment appropriately. You can follow people who participate in the discussions. This is a straightforward way to make yourself and your brand known to people who are already likely to be interested in your content.
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